This invention identifies the product and process for attaching a meat, poultry or seafood fraction to a rawhide fraction resulting in a highly palatable and long-lasting chew for dogs.
There are a wide range of products positioned in the marketplace that serve as treats for dogs. One major segment typically called “chews” are formulated and processed in such a way as to be very long lasting. Examples of products with extended “chew-time” are products such as dehydrated body parts. Specific examples are cattle bones, hooves, knuckles, ears, and skin material. They are usually marketed in dehydrated form and typically offer very long chew times as compared to such items as biscuits, jerky or semi-moist style extruded treats. Perhaps the widest range of chew products are items made from rawhide.
Rawhide is the refined skin of cows, pigs, water buffalo and other such livestock. Because of the very tough nature of the processed rawhide fraction, it typically can be utilized to produce chews with an extended chew time.
One of the major difficulties with rawhide based treats has been the fact that the base rawhide by itself is not particularly palatable to dogs. To compound this problem, the processing aids that refine and bleach rawhide are also somewhat unpalatable and serve to further reduce the acceptability of this kind of chew to many dogs.
Manufacturers have attempted to solve this problem by incorporating secondary ingredients into the rawhide fraction to increase the acceptability of the chew. The methods utilized vary widely from simple marinating of a flavoring component into the rawhide fraction to more complex dual extrusion, injection, depositing, and enrobing techniques. A review of the prior art demonstrates numerous novel approaches to increasing the acceptability of the rawhide fractions.
The patent to Fisher, U.S. Pat. No. 2,988,045, describes the basic rawhide tanning techniques and how the layers of rawhide known in the trade as “splits” can be tied into unique shapes and dried to produce a long-lasting chew for pets. Twain, U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,348, taught a method of incorporating a chemical flavoring appealing to pets into a chewable rawhide fraction. Kirch, U.S. Pat. No. 6,840,196, taught a method of impregnating a flavoring compound into one sheet of rawhide and then wrapping a second sheet of rawhide around the flavored portion in such a way as to add a flavoring system without the potentially negative effects of having a rug staining issue from the flavoring incorporated onto the surface of the product. Hague, U.S. Pat. No. 6,895,900, taught a method of infusing a chlorophyll flavoring into a hide fraction and then forming perforations to allow the flavoring to contact the dog's teeth during chewing.
While methods as described above slightly increase the acceptability of the rawhide, there is a limit to the total weight quantity of flavoring that can be applied with these methods. Also, most marinating techniques work well only with soluble flavoring fractions.
Several inventors attempted to produce more acceptable products by incorporating dried or semi-moist meat fractions within layers of the rawhide treats. Sherill, U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,653, taught a method of taking thin slices of meat and putting this slice onto sheets of rawhide. The rawhide is then rolled into a roll or rope in such a way that the meat fraction is entrapped within the layers of rawhide. A portion of the meat slice is allowed to stick out of the sides of the roll and at the end horizontal seam in such a manner that a portion of the dehydrated meat fraction is rapidly available to the dog. While novel in approach, this method restricts the amount of meat fraction that can be applied to the inside of the treat. It also suffers from a lack of initial acceptability because very little dehydrated meat fraction is available on the surface of the treat for the initial presentation to the animal. Greenburg, U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,237, taught a method of melting rawhide in a twin-screw extruder and then reforming the product into various rope or unique designs based on the shape of the die. Utilizing Greenburg's process, a meat fraction could be substituted for the moisture used as a processing aid during the extrusion step. Again however, the meat fraction is not concentrated on the surface for maximum palatability but is dispersed at only a moderate level within the body of the treat. Also, the amount of fresh meat which can be processed is limited to the approximately 20% moisture level that can be handled during extrusion. Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 6,886,496, solved the problem of low meat levels in a treat by producing a pre-extruded dried meat log and then placing it on the inside of a rolled rawhide cylinder. While this method does provide a mechanism for including high meat fractions, very little of the meat would be available on the surface for the important aspect of initial attraction by the animal. Mohilef, U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,893, attempted to solve the problem of high initial attraction by incorporating the meat fraction on the surface of the treat. This was done by utilizing a complete tubular meat byproduct such as bovine esophagus and stuffing it over the outside of a long lasting fraction such as cattle bones. While this method does produce a novel appearing product, the esophagus fraction is not particularly palatable and the process is encumbered by a high processing cost imposed by the manual labor involved in the stuffing step.
From a review of the above teachings, it is clear that what is needed is a method of producing a combination rawhide-meat treat for dogs that exposes a significant portion of the meat fraction to the surface of the product but yet maintains the long chew time that can be achieved with the use of a properly prepared rawhide fraction. The current invention provides this method.